


Screens

by v_xiii



Series: Fractals [2]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Gen, emotional anguish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 08:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14689989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_xiii/pseuds/v_xiii
Summary: Lard Nar pities Purple, and tries to console him.





	Screens

"Red?" 

Everyone on the bridge turns, eyes finally peeled away from the display. The recording rings out deafening in the lofty room:

'Gentian, come back, come back. Please, I need you!'

Purple takes another step forward. While other eyes in the room flick back and forth between him and the spectacle on the screen, his remain fixed; taking in his twin's naked body, festering wounds, grotesquely stitched eyelids, face twisted in anguish. Without realizing, he has crossed the length of the bridge until he's face to face with Red. With his brother.

"Safranin, I'm so sorry." He presses his hands to the screen. Red sobs beneath them.

"Someone cut it!"

"Red, Red, Safranin, it's ok. It's ok." His eyes are wide, staring at Red's white knuckled grip on a familiar scrap of fabric.

"Spleenk! Cut it now!" Instantly, the screen beneath Purple's hands goes blank. His brother's wailing ceases, and all that's left is the gentle hum of the ship's systems. The bridge is full but nobody dares move- save for Purple, who visibly slumps, turns, and strides out of the room.

* * *

Lard Nar feels like a complete fool, wandering his own ship holding a cup of water. He's filled it too full and every now and then a little bit splashes over the rim and drips down his hand. He sighs. Damn his conscience, making him wander to the ends of this new (and frankly confusing) ship to find a sorrowing Irken ex-ruler ex-enemy who may or may not drink water anyway. He stumbles and half of the water left in the glass spills.

* * *

When Nar finally happens upon Purple in a bathroom he briefly wonders how one consoles an emotional Irken anyway, if it's even possible. But he's already pushed the door open and and found Purple sitting on the floor beside the sink so it's too late to dwell on that thought. 

"I brought you some water," Nar states dumbly, gesturing to the half full glass. He sets it down beside Purple, who offers a short grin as acknowledgement. But only for a moment, his face quickly falls back into a vacant stare. "Sorry you had to see that. I- I don't have any controls for the display on my chair for some stupid reason, Spleenk has to do it from-"

"It's been a long time, I would have thought he'd be dead by now." Purple finally meets Nar's eyes, a loaded look. His eyes are swollen and tinged green. "It was a livestream, right? Anti-Empire propaganda?" 

Nar swallows down the lump in his throat, and nods. Something in Purple's hoarse voice tells him this isn't necessarily a cup half full situation. 

"They won't give him mercy. He's going to suffer for a very, very long time." Purple sighs, looks down at his hands. "He asked me to kill him, before they sold me. He didn't want to go through any of this without me." Purple's voice becomes fainter as he speaks, but Nar senses he shouldn't move closer. There's something volatile about his vacant stare, legs splayed out in front of him, hands folded neatly in his lap. For a beat, the room is silent. "He was just in the wrong place, they happened to hurt him first. They wanted to keep one of us pristine to sell and for no real reason that was me."

Nar finally finds his voice, "Purple this is not your fault. You can't blame yourself for-"

Purple's brow furrows, his face twists into a snarl as he speaks, "Didn't you hear me? He fucking begged me for death and I was too much of a coward to help him. I thought I could figure out a way to save him- us- but they sold me off faster than I thought. Now I'm here, perfectly fine again, while he's tortured endlessly." Purple has moved his legs underneath himself, kneeling, hunched over his hands pulled close to his chest. Nar notes a similarity in his posture: how Red was holding the lavender scrap of robe. He simply listens, figuring Purple needs this, to vent his understandable frustration.

"I don't deserve this! Why do I get mercy over him again and again? I don't want it, I'll suffer for him, I would stay locked up for the rest of my meaningless life to stop them from hurting him!" Focused on meeting Purple's intense stare, acknowledging his pain, Nar doesn't realize he's picked up the glass set beside him.

"I should be the one in pain."

Nar reels back when the glass explodes. Without missing a beat, Purple picks up the largest shard and drives it hard into his own thigh.

* * *

"Is he gonna be alright?"

"Yeah he'll be fine, he just needed some blood and stitches."

"I didn't know someone so skinny could have so much blood in him. Where does he keep it all?" Both chuckle for a moment.

"Yeah. Has anyone cleaned that bathroom yet?"

"No, I don't want to say anything because I sure as shit don't want to do it."

"I heard that."

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism and grammar/format critiques welcome!
> 
> Thanks for reading this mess


End file.
